Cooking for one

I'm in the second of my multiple stints home alone this summer, so I had a chance to cook again this new recipe I found that makes one small portion of noodles right in your dinner bowl. Not to bury the lede, these may be the best noodles I've had. It's insane how good and easy these are, mixing the sauce right in the bowl you're going to eat out of and ready in under 15 minutes. They're good enough to make you look forward to being alone and cooking for yourself. This one goes straight to bold in the index of "Recipes."

 

Step 2 before mixing in the noodle-cooking water

Bachelor Pad Dinner-Bowl Noodles

Adapted from Kali Jago via Kali Cooking (Jan. 24, 2024)

Time: ~14 minutes, depending on what kind of noodles you use (my udon noodles cooked in 4 minutes)

The recipe says to use 4 teaspoons of chili oil or chili crisp for just 90 grams of noodles, which would blow my head off. One teaspoon of chili crisp was enough for me.

For the noodles
90 to 100 grams noodles, such as udon or soba (I’ve used Wegmans Organic Udon Wheat Noodles and Wegmans Organic Soba Buckwheat Noodles, but there are probably more authentic choices out there)
2 teaspoons sea salt

For the sauce
2 scallions / spring onions, sliced thinly on the bias
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon (17 grams) well-stirred tahini
2 teaspoons (10 grams) chinkiang or sherry or rice vinegar
1 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
¼ teaspoon maple or agave syrup or other sweetener
Chili oil or chili crisp to taste (see note)
2 tablespoons noodle-cooking water

To serve
Roasted and crushed peanuts, optional

    1. For the noodles: Bring 3 quarts of water to a roiling boil in a large pot over high heat. Stir in the salt until dissolved. Add the noodles and stir a few times to keep from sticking. Reduce the heat to medium-high. Cook until al dente. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the noodle-cooking water for the sauce (see step 2), then drain well. If you like room temperature noodles, rinse with cold water and drain again.
    2. For the sauce: While the water is coming to a boil, mix all of the sauce ingredients (including 2 tablespoons of the noodle-cooking water) in your dinner bowl. When the noodles are cooked and drained, add them to the bowl and mix well. Top with a sprinkle of crushed peanuts, if desired. Eat promptly. Serves 1.